The late José Saramago, a 1998 Nobel laureate in literature whose works have been translated from Portuguese into dozens of languages, noted that “Writers create national literature with their language, but world literature is written by translators.”

Jeremy Dauber, the Atran Professor of Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture in the department of Germanic languages, was well aware that “analyzing comedy runs the risk of killing it.” Still, he forged ahead, chronicling the arc of Jewish humor.

Columbia University announced today that three acclaimed works will be awarded the 2017 Bancroft Prize in American History and Diplomacy: The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in